CES 2016: VW e-Golf Touch Brings Gesture Control to the Car

In recent years, automakers have been moving more and more features that were once operated by buttons and dials into the car’s touchscreen. But Volkswagen has taken things a step further, creating a digital infotainment system that doesn’t require to touch it at all.
At the 2016 edition of CES in Las Vegas, Volkswagen unveiled the e-Golf Touch. It is basically a large digital screen that can recognize hand gestures that are made in front of it. Volkswagen says it is the “first compact car with gesture control functionality.” The company says the features seen here will be available to consumers in the coming years.
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The 9.2-inch digital screen features high-def resolution (1280x640), and in addition to being touch-activated, also features a sensor that can sense hand motions in front of it. You can do things like move your hand left or right to scroll left to right among screens, and when a music or media menu is open, you can use that same swiping motion to skip tracks.
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The gesture recognition feature is the centerpiece of a vehicle that holds some other neat items that are likely to make their way into VW products in the near future. For instance “electronic voice amplification” is a feature that listens for the driver’s voice and artificially amplifies it to you can be heard by back seat passengers. There are also wireless charging ports for back seat passengers (in the armrests), and the e-Golf Touch also features a new USB Type C port which allows for high speed transfer of data while quickly charging the phone.
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